Appare-Ranman / Ep. 2 Review
We left off with Appare and Kosame drifting in the ocean accepting the fate of dying in the middle of the ocean. With luck, a giant steamboat invites them on board saving their lives.
This steamboat has traveled from Japan and they end up in America in the city of Los Angeles!
This excites Appare because we do get a little bit of character of Appare where he expresses his dream of wanting to travel the ocean because the entire world is connected by the ocean. Which is a charming dream.
However, Kosame does not share this same dream, he wants to get back home to his family and his arranged fiancee. Unlucky for Kosame, no one will take him home unless he buys a ticket which way back went, tickets were expensive and it would equal to almost 10 years of work to get a ticket, so Kosame better start working!
With the failed attempts of getting a job, they discover the street performance of DODGE FIGHTING! People bet to see if they can land a hit on their opponent and Kosame being a Samurai, well this was the perfect job for them. With the money they earned they end up at a race track where Appare is very interested in the cars and how they run without using steam!
Late at night, the duo breaks into the racetrack to look at the cars where we meet Xia Lian Jing, a female mechanic with the dreams of being a pilot of the race cars. However, this dream is laughed at because during this time men believe that women could not drive cars because the speed was too much for a fragile female to handle. Apparently driving requires strength and courage that only a man can have! Just shut up, dude. Xia Lian is totally cool and an amazing driver!
Oh my goodness, this episode was so fun! We are meeting new characters and this is where we learn about the Trans-American Wild Race where our characters will partake in the future. I just have to say, the cars in this series are so gorgeous. They are done so well and gives us that old-timey aesthetic. It is so cool! Xia Lian is gorgeous and such a spark, like yes please female advocacy! Cars and racing are still so thought to be a male thing when it doesn't have to be. Anyone can enjoy racing, working on cars, and anything that has to deal with cars it isn't assigned to any gender so I am happy there is that representation. This anime is supposed to be based in the 19th century and yet it is still showing problems we are facing today, so I am happy there is a voice out there and connecting today's problems are still the same problems people have fought for decades. I am down with this.
Are you watching Appare-Ranman? Tell me about it!
Source: MAL